Nick of Time

Alaron looked at the man's huge form and shook his head slowly.

"Of all the things you could turn into. A bat?! You chose to look like...a bat? Haha, a Bat-man!"

Taran hissed, his sharp fangs nearly cutting into his own lips. The Guardian was not taking him seriously.

The silver-eyed man should be terrified. Alaron should be running or at least fighting. Yet he was making jokes and mocking him.

"Where is Dania?" Taran demanded.

"Gone," Alaron inhaled through his nose and tilted up his chin defiantly. "You will not see her again."

"Hmm, No...I don't think so…" Taran tapped his chin with his long forefinger. "If that were true, you would have gone with her instead of hiding."

With one mighty flap of his wings, the abomination slammed the door shut. Out of the corner of his eye, Alaron could see a flicker of motion behind another one of the broken pieces of furniture. And if he could see it, Taran could to.

"Hello, Dania. Do not worry. I am here to rescue you! I will take you safely away form this until the Empress and her troops are crushed." Taran's attention turned to the debris behind which the scientist hid. There was a tenderness in his voice which was contrary to the greed in his eyes.

"You would abandon your troops?" Alaron was genuinely surprised.

His question was ill-timed. Alaron realized too late that any opportunity he had to strike was gone. Taran glared at the Guardian. "I abandon nothing."

Dania ran for the door. But Taran was quicker. "There you are, my love," the winged man grasped the scientist and pulled her into his embrace. She struggled against him, careful not to scratch herself on any part of his body. "I can see you are anxious to leave. Let me take out this blight on humanity and we can be on our way."

"No!" Dania screamed.

Taran tossed aside the woman he had just been holding dear as he rushed forward to take down his prey. The bat moved in a blur of motion. Dripping with anticipation, his teeth grew longer in an instant.

Alaron raised his sword, but the force of the collision pushed it flat against his own body. He cried out in pain as two sharp pricks dug into his neck, rendering him paralyzed for a moment.

The man's silver eyes flashed as Taran began to drain the blood from his body. The pain was immeasurable and frightening.

"Taran!" Dania screamed over and over. She ran at the batlike man and threw one of the last intact beakers at his head. The glass broke across Taran's face, scraping both him and Alaron with the explosion of shards.

The abomination was pulled from his blood lust as the cool liquid of the beaker dribbled down his skin. Suddenly disgusted by his own action, he pulled away from the Guardian.

But then he licked his lips, and the salty red liquid of his prey reignited his desire to kill and destroy. "There are worse ways to die, Guardian." He said, kicking Alaron with his clawed foot.

The man groaned, his head light from the sudden loss of blood.

"A vampire!?" Alaron touched the puncture in his neck. "Zan lied to me! Remind me to hold this information over his head when this is all over…I'm talking to the lady, of course. You'll be dead by then."

Alaron spoke carefully, buying himself time. He focused on his breathing, trying to circulate the life-giving power of what blood was left in his body. He was very glad that he was a quick healer.

Taran raised his eyebrows. "You'll kill me? Now who's delusional!" The winged man reached forward only to have his nails grapple with the Guardian's sword.

While there was not too much force behind the block, the razor sharp blade did far more work than it should have been able to.

Taran recoiled as if the steel of the blade had burned him. "A magic sword?"

"Only against those who try to take the throne." In truth Alaron had no idea if the blade from the first king of Valiant was magical. If it was, he hoped it would use all of its power on the batlike man.

Taran tried to knock the sword from the Alaron's grasp twice more, only to get two more gashes in return. His eyes began to blacken each time he was denied.

The Guardian was a nuisance between himself and happiness. Taran continued to bat at the cloaked figure like a cat trying to capture a stubborn mouse.

On the other hand, Alaron was fighting for his life. His leg ached and the pain in his neck was clouding much of his judgement. Although the bleeding from the two pricks in his pale skin were already closing, he could not quite shake the woozy feeling that the bite had brought with it.

'Focus! Focus! I've got to get Dania out of here. And by the look on Taran's face, I have to do it soon.'

With each strike, Taran seemed to become less human. He was still in control of his actions, but the animalistic urges were becoming stronger and stronger. The man had already feasted on the Guardian. How long before he found Dania to be an easier target? An easier meal...

For her part, Dania continued to launch anything and everything at the wild monster, but he barely paid her any heed except for a longing, thirsty glance.

"Die! Won't you!" Taran screeched in the man's ear's—deafening him momentarily with the shrill cry. The pressure of the sound forced Alaron to shut his eyes. Taran took the opportunity to pounce on the unsuspecting Guardian.

At the same time, the scientist opened a small container and shoved it into Taran's face. The powder blinded him, causing him to scratch at his now itchy eyes.

Unfortunately, Alaron suffered the same fate. He waved his sword around wildly, ready to defend himself if Taran should recover first.

The door crashed open. 'More abominations?!' Alaron's heart sank. But then Taran grunted and another crash brought with it a rush of fresh air. Taran had been knocked through the wall.

"Lower your sword so we can help you," a friendly voice called. "I don't plan on losing an ear today, thank you."

Alaron dropped his blade and rubbed his cape against his eyes. The magical cloth cleansed him in ways nothing else could. His vison quickly cleared, and Gandr stood giving him a lopsided grin. "I made it!" he announced.

"You took your sweet time. I thought mother must have changed her plans when you didn't arrive earlier."

Even with his green bandana and wolfish facade, Gandr looked winded. He had obviously been working hard prior to his arrival. "I did my best to keep the abominations from assembling. A lot of fat good it did."

Gandr had been the one of the two that Taran had ordered to rally the troops. While pretending to listen, he had silently taken down his lizard counterpart. But in the end, too many of the abominations had been former soldiers and so they still fell into line easily.

Outmatched and unable to use too much magic without being noticed, Gandr had finally decided it was time to find Alaron. It had been just in the nick of time too. Well, from the look of Alaron, he was late. Gandr furrowed his brow. 'Better late than never.'

The halfling shook his head, "Now, come on! Bat-brain will wake up any moment!"

Gandr's wind magic had packed such a punch when he struck Taran that the wall had not been able to hold up against the crash. On the ground, the former nobleman lay unconscious, his wings and feet jutting out at awkward angles.

Seeing that the Guardian was not in the best shape, Gandr silently passed one of Alaron's arms over his shoulder for support. He motioned for Dania to do the same.

Cafeful of Alaron's neck injury, she supported him as much as her feminine frame would allow. Together they headed out of the newly made exit.

Dania gave the black and white wolf a quizzical look. "You aren't a monster, are you?"

"Not the kind you are thinking no. I'm a special sort of abomination," he pulled down the green cloth from around his face and smiled at her.

"It's not safe to have magical creatures here!" Dania hissed worriedly at Alaron.

The Guardian chuckled dryly. "Tell him that. I tried."

The scientist could see it was a fruitless venture. She turned her attention to their surroundings.

When the imperial army attacked from the south, all of the abominations had run into the fray, ready to sate their bloodlust.

As such, the camp was empty of the monsters except for the odd skirmish with the imperial abominations which had infiltrated the camp.

As they turned northward away from the action, Dania noticed something even more odd.

The humans who had been staying in the camp were noticeably absent. Dania expected to see at least one human cowering from the action. But there was no one.

Her face turned skyward and grew deathly pale. Dozens of grey-skinned abominations littered the sky.

"Oh no! Yumeto…he actually did it! We have to stop him!"